Stele of Moses

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Stele of Moses
Steledes Mose.JPG
material limestone
Dimensions H. 67.5 cm; W. 50.5 cm; T. 12.5 cm;
origin unknown, possibly Pi-Ramesse
time New Kingdom , 19th Dynasty , around 1250 BC Chr.
place Hildesheim , Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum , PM 374

The stele of Moses is considered to be the most interesting and unusual of the listening steles . It is dated to the 19th dynasty of the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom around 1250 BC. Chr.

Location

Wilhelm Pelizaeus acquired the stele in Cairo in 1911 . There he was informed that it, like the other 65 steles he had acquired between 1905 and 1911, came from the temple of Tell Horbeit , the cult site of Hor-meti in the middle east of the delta. Today, however, it is assumed that most of these steles, including those of Moses, originate from the delta residence of the Ramessids of the 19th and 20th dynasties, from the capital of the Ramessid rulers Pi-Ramesse in the region of today's Qantir . It could originally have been related to a colossal statue of Ramses II . The colossal statues, which are often set up in publicly accessible places, for example at the temple gate, were an important means of propaganda for the king and convey the ruler's quality of God presented in a proper name. Small and medium-sized military officials in particular were the donors of these steles, which they probably had erected as a votive gift .

description

The limestone stele is 67.5 cm high, 50.5 cm wide and 12.5 cm deep. The three scenes on the stele show Pharaoh Ramses II in different aspects of his royal self-image. In the first scene (top left) he appears in a divine context in front of the Memphite creator god Ptah , who is depicted in the form of a mummy with a tight-fitting cap and composite scepter. Ramses II dressed in a royal helmet and a pompous cloak is referred to here as "Lord of truth, king of the two countries, who answers prayers". While the king hands a figure of Maat to the god who stands under a canopy as a sign of his government in accordance with the divine principles of order, Ptah, "who hears the requests", guarantees the king and the people divine benevolence.

In a second scene (top right) the king, the highest human employer, leans out of the appearance window of his palace and throws the holder of the stele, Moses, a gold collar and "all sorts of beautiful objects" as an award , because he is satisfied with the "sayings of his mouth" . The lower register shows the awarding of “ honor gold ” in the form of collars and other ornaments to Moses and other members of the military. The ceremony is performed in front of a colossal seated figure of the king with a double crown and a royal beard , which is to be understood as the embodiment of the living ruler and bears the proper name "Ramses beloved-by-Amun (is) the-sun-ruler". King Ramses II appears next to his statue. It is he who throws the precious jewelry as a badge of honor to the soldiers, who catch it with jubilant hands. He calls out to the soldiers: "Would you like to see this and do what His Majesty loves". Moses stands directly in front of Pharaoh and says: “How beautiful is what he has done! Big, big! ”The soldiers also praise their master and shout:“ You are the sun god Re , you are just like him! When you appear, we live by the sight of you ”.

The stele can be considered a special feature because of its richness of representation, the expressiveness of the style, its extraordinary conception and the otherwise unusual density of actions on steles. It is also unusual that the man who was awarded the “Gold of Honor” appears to be a “simple” soldier, as no other titles appear in the text of the stele. Comparable representations have come down to us mainly from the graves of high officials or the military (e.g. from the grave of General Haremhab in Saqqara , which he had put on before he became king).

literature

  • Wilfried Seipel among others: Egypt. In the realm of the pharaohs. Exhibition catalog. Kunsthalle Leoben, March 31 to November 4, 2001. In search of beauty and perfection. City of Leoben, Leoben 2001, ISBN 3-9500840-0-2 .
  • Kenneth A. Kitchen : Ramesside Inscriptions. Translated and Annotated: Translations. Volume III: Ramesses II, his contemporaries. Blackwell, Oxford 2000, ISBN 0-631-18428-7 , pp. 187-188.
  • Arne Eggebrecht (ed.), Matthias Seidel: Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim. The Egyptian Collection. von Zabern, Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-8053-1579-1 , pp. 72-73.
  • Wilfried Seipel: Pictures for eternity. 3000 years of Egyptian art. Konstanz Council, March 25 - May 23, 1983. F. Stadler, Konstanz 1983, ISBN 3-7977-0100-4 , p. 154.
  • Hans Kayser : The Egyptian antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim (= Pelizaeus-Museum. Scientific publication. ). Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1973, ISBN 3-8067-8002-1 , pp. 59–60, Figure 51.
  • Günther Roeder : Ramses II. As God: After the Hildesheimer memorial stones from Horbêt. In: Journal for Egyptian Language and Antiquity . Volume 61, 1926, pp. 65-66, Fig. 2.
  • Albert Ippel, Günther Roeder: The monuments of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim. Curtius, Berlin 1921, pp. 12, 17, 23, 31, 93–96, fig. 33.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Inventory number Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim : PM 374

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